SAFER : an initiative launched by WHO to reduce harmful use of alcohol

The World Health Organization (WHO) released SAFER, a new initiative to support governments in taking practical steps to accelerate progress on health, beat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) . It will address the harmful use of alcohol, and achieve development targets.

SAFER provides five high-impact strategic actions that are prioritized for implementation to promote health and development by:

It will be used to reduce the burden of alcohol-related harm in low-, middle- and high-income countries.Alcohol control essential for development as it is a part of the 17 SDGoals with 169 targets.

Target 3.5 is “Strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol”.Also, the WHO Global Monitoring Framework for NCDs includes a target to reduce harmful use of alcohol by at least 10% by 2025.

Alcohol consumption contributes to more than 3 million deaths globally every year and over 5% of the global burden of disease and injury, according to the recently issued WHO Global Status Report (GSR) on Alcohol and Health 2018.